Sunday, February 25, 2024

Proverbs 4:14-27, annotated.

 

This translation is from the New Jerusalem Bible. Other translations are available hereInformation about the original Hebrew meaning of what seem to be the key words is provided immediately below the scriptural text.  

 

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Do not follow the path of the wicked, do not walk the way that the evil go. 15Avoid it, do not take it, turn your back on it, pass it by. 16For they cannot sleep unless they have first done wrong, they miss their sleep if they have not made someone stumble; 17for the bread of wickedness is what they eat, and the wine of violence is what they drink.

 

18The path of the upright is like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the fullness of day; 19the way of the wicked is as dark as night, they cannot tell the obstacles they stumble over.

 

20My child, pay attention to what I am telling you, listen carefully to my words; 21do not let them out of your sight, keep them deep in your heart. 22For they are life to those who find them and health to all humanity. 23More than all else, keep watch over your heart, since here are the wellsprings of life.

 

24Turn your back on the mouth that misleads, keep your distance from lips that deceive.

 

25Let your eyes be fixed ahead, your gaze be straight before you. 26Let the path you tread be level and all your ways be firm.27Turn neither to right nor to left, keep your foot clear of evil.

 

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avoid = פָּרַע = pāra  Blue Letter Bible to let go, let loose, ignore, let alone; avoid, neglect; be loosened of restraint; overlook/reject counsel; unbridled;  lawless; cause to refrain; dismiss; refuse  

 

turn = שָׂטָה = śāṭâ Blue Letter Bible  turn aside, go aside, turn, decline

 

wicked = רֶשַׁע = rešaʿ  Blue Letter Bible  wrong, wickedness, guilt; violence and crime against civil law; iniquity; fraud, falsehood

violence = חָמָס = chamac. Blue Letter Bible  violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice; unjust gain; damage; unrighteous; false witness

 

path = אֹרַח = 'ōraḥ  Blue Letter Bible  way, path; road; way of living; a well-trodden road; by-, high-) way; course of living and acting; way of living; mode of living, or of character

 

upright = צַדִּיק = ṣadîq Blue Letter Bible  lawful, righteous; righteous (in government); righteous (in conduct and character); righteous (as justified and vindicated by God); honest, virtuous, pious

 

light = אוֹר = 'owr Blue Letter Bible light of day; light of heavenly luminaries (moon, sun, stars); day-break, dawn, morning light; luminary (in every sense, including lightning, happiness, etc.); bright, clear, day, light (-ning), morning, sun

 

dawn = נֹגַהּ = nōḡah  Blue Letter Bible  brightness; brilliancy (literally or figuratively); shining; shining splendor

brightness = אוֹר = 'ôr  Blue Letter Bible  to illumine, light up, cause to shine, shine; be or become light, shine; be illuminated; become lighted up 

growing = הָלַךְ = halak  Blue Letter Bible  to go; proceed, move; enter; follow; go along; proceed; to go with, have intercourse with; to go after; pursue; live, manner of life; go on, go forward; traverse; march;  flow, be poured out

 

fullness = כּוּן = kûn  Blue Letter Bible  to be firm, be stable, be established; to be fixed, be securely determined;  to prepare, be ready; to be erect (i.e. stand perpendicular); hence (causatively) to set up; make provision; to direct; be right, fit, sincere, firm, constant; sure; established, confirmed; enduring; direct one’s face toward; arrange, order

 

day = יוֹם = yôm  Blue Letter Bible  day, time, year; a working day, a day's journey; the heat of the day; day time, daily; perpetually; lifetime; daily duties, observances, etc. 

 

child בֵּן = bēn  Blue Letter Bible  son, grandson, child, member of a group; male child; young men; children (pl. - male and female); foster son; disciple; one related to a time, place, emotion, condition, status; term of kindliness or endearment; expression of intimate and gracious relation

 

pay attention = קָשַׁב = qashab Blue Letter Bible to hear, be attentive, heed, incline (of ears), attend (of ears), hearken, pay attention, listen; give attention; to prick up the ears; regard

 

telling you = דָּבָר = dāḇār  Blue Letter Bible  speech, word, speaking, thing; saying, utterance, discourse; confer; advice, counsel; message, report, tidings; tidings; thought; promise; precept, edict; business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner (by extension)

listen carefully = אֹזֶן = 'ōzen  Blue Letter Bible  ear, as organ of hearing; to uncover the ear to reveal; open ears of, reveal to; to place in anyone’s ear; to hear with anyone’s ears 

AND

 נָטָה = natah Blue Letter Bible to stretch out, extend, spread out, pitch, turn, pervert, incline, bend, bow; to turn aside, incline, decline, bend down; hold out; incline, influence; outstretched; wrest, cause to yield; spread oneself; seduce

 

words = אֵמֶר = 'ēmer  Blue Letter Bible  utterance, speech, word, saying, promise; command, mandate; something said; appointed unto him; saying, speech, word 

 

sight = עַיִן = ʿayin  Blue Letter Bible  eye; before my eyes; set one eyes on; spring, fountain

 

keep = שָׁמַר = šāmar  Blue Letter Bible  keep, guard, observe, give heed; retain, treasure up (in memory); preserve; attend to

 

deep = תָּוֶךְ = tāveḵ Blue Letter Bible  midst, middle; into, through; center; with, within 

 

heart = לֵבָב = lebab Blue Letter Bible  inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); seat of appetites; seat of emotions and passions; mode of thinking and acting; will and purpose; intellect

 

life = חַי = ḥay  Blue Letter Bible  living, alive; green (of vegetation); flowing, fresh (of water); lively, active (of man); reviving (of the springtime); appetite; raw; springing; vigorous; prosperity, welfare; living one, fountain of life; community  

 

find =מָצָא = matsa' Blue Letter Bible  attain to, secure, acquire, get (thing sought); to find (what is lost); to learn, devise; to be discovered, be detected; to be gained, be secured; attain, i.e. find or acquire; find out by thinking; to wish to find, seek

 

health = מַרְפֵּא = marpē' Blue Letter Bible  health, healing, cure; sound (of mind); profit; curative, medicine; deliverance; placidity; remedy, sound, wholesome; refreshing

 

humanity  = בָּשָׂר = basar Blue Letter Bible  flesh; the body itself; the whole body; kindred, blood-relations; self

 

More than all else = מִשְׁמָר = mišmār  Blue Letter Bible  confinement, prison, guard, jail, guard post, watch, observance; act of guarding; custody; diligence

 

keep watch = נָצַר = nāṣar Blue Letter Bible  watch over; observe, guard with fidelity; kept close, be blockaded;protect, maintain, obey; preserve 

 

heartלֵב = lēḇ Blue Letter Bible inner man, mind, will, understanding; midst; soul; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); conscience; seat of appetites, emotions, passions, courage; feelings, the will and even the intellect; the centre of anything

 

wellsprings = תּוֹצָאוֹת = tôṣā'ôṯ  Blue Letter Bible  outgoing, going out; extremity, end; source, source (of life); escape (from death); forth (out), issues, outgoing; place from which goes forth 

 

life = חַי = ḥay  Blue Letter Bible  living, alive; green (of vegetation); flowing, fresh (of water); lively, active (of man); reviving (of the springtime); appetite; raw; springing; vigorous; prosperity, welfare; living one, fountain of life; community  

 

turn your back on = סוּר = sûr  Blue Letter Bible turn aside, depart; avoid; be removed; depose; put aside, leave undone, retract, reject, abolish; eschew; turn off; rebel; put away, withdraw; sour; turn aside to oneself; be without

 

misleads = עִקְּשׁוּת = ʿiqqšûṯ  Blue Letter Bible  distortion, crookedness; perversity, forwardness  

 

keep your distance = רָחַק = rāḥaq Blue Letter Bible  be or become far, be or become distant, be removed, go far away; send far away; make or exhibit distance, be gone far; remove, put far away; loose; widen; recede; cast; wander; refrain; a good way off; remote 

 

deceive = לְזוּת =  lzûṯ  Blue Letter Bible  deviation, perversity, crookedness

 

sight = עַיִן = ʿayin  Blue Letter Bible  eye; before my eyes; set one eyes on; spring, fountain

fixed = נָבַט = nāḇaṭ  Blue Letter Bible  look,  regard, show regard to, pay attention to, consider; look intently at; regard with pleasure, favor or care; behold; desire, gloat

 

ahead = נֹכַח = nōḵaḥ  Blue Letter Bible  in front of, opposite to, in the sight of, before, to the front, right on; towards the front of, in front of, on behalf of, as far as in front of; direct(-ly)

 

gaze = עַפְעַפִּים = ʿap̄ʿapîm  Blue Letter Bible  eyelid; dawn, rays of sun (fig.)

 

straight = יָשַׁר = yāšar Blue Letter Bible  right, straight, level, upright, just, lawful, smooth; straight or even; direct; fit; level; pleasing, agreeable, right; make smooth, straight

 

before you = נֶגֶד = neḡeḏ  Blue Letter Bible   what is conspicuous, what is in front of; in front of, straight forward, before, in sight of; in front of oneself, straightforward; before your face, in your view or purpose; in the presence of, in the sight of; vividly present to 

 

path = מַעְגָּל = maʿgāl  Blue Letter Bible   entrenchment; track; circumvallation; rampart; path, trench, way; wagon-track; rut

 

level = פָּלַס = pālas  Blue Letter Bible  weigh; make level; make smooth; balance; to roll flat, i.e. prepare; weigh (mentally); ponder; make 

 

ways דֶּרֶךְ = dereḵ  Blue Letter Bible  way, road, distance, journey, manner; path; mode; habit, way; course of life; mode of action

 

firm = כּוּן = kûn  Blue Letter Bible  firm, stable, established; fixed,  securely determined;  prepare, ready; erect (i.e. stand perpendicular); hence (causatively) set up; make provision; direct; right, fit, sincere, firm, constant; sure; established, confirmed; enduring; direct one’s face toward; arrange, order

 

turn= נָטָה = natah Blue Letter Bible to stretch out, extend, spread out, pitch, turn, pervert, incline, bend, bow; turn aside, incline, decline, bend down; hold out; incline, influence; outstretched; wrest, cause to yield; spread oneself; seduce

 

right = יָמִין = yāmîn  Blue Letter Bible the stronger and more dexterous; prosperous; the right or south side  

 

left = שְׂמֹאל = śmō'l  Blue Letter Bible   the left, the left hand, the left side; north

 

turn = סוּר = sûr  Blue Letter Bible turn aside, depart; avoid; be removed; depose; put aside, leave undone, retract, reject, abolish; eschew; turn off; rebel; put away, withdraw; sour; turn aside to oneself; be without

 

evil = רַע = raʿ  Blue Letter Bible  bad, evil, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, giving pain, unhappiness, misery, displeasing; sad, unhappy; hurtful; unkind, vicious in disposition, wicked (ethically)

 

 

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